Reader Stacia contacted me to share — and ask for help finding out more — about what she was calling a set of 32 “Fasylux” containers, organized in a special made-in-Norway box, and installed in her mother-in-law’s house around 1968. First off: I think it’s really “Easylux.” What more can we find out about this mysterious woddity?
Stacia writes:
Hi Pam,
I may have a wonderful oddity for you… We rescued a cabinet from my MIL’s house when she moved out recently. It is full of rectangular and round holes with containers in them. I think the cabinet was just made by the cabinet maker who did her kitchen in the late 60s or early seventies. But the containers… I didn’t know until we took them all out that they were made in Norway! The brand is Fasylux. They are clear plastic and the name is embossed on them. The round ones have lids with airtight rubber seals. I googled them and only came up with an old ebay photo. The link is super long so I’m not including it here, but you could look it up in the same way. I have never seen these anywhere else in my mid century hunting, in real life or online. Our cabinet holds 32 containers and we installed it in our mudroom. Super useful and cool looking!
I spoke to my mother-in-law about the cabinet. The house is in St. Louis, and I live in Columbia, MO. They bought the house in 1967 and remodeled the kitchen in 1968 or 69. They used an interior decorator — his name is Gene Levin…. he later moved to Las Vegas — to do the kitchen, and one day he just showed up with the cabinet, which he called a “tandaro unit” (or maybe tandara or tandura?? Her memory is spotty here). Anyway, she really liked it so it became part of the kitchen. She had no idea where it came from or that the containers were made in Norway, or if the cabinet came with the containers or was made separately. I couldn’t find anything online about tandaro or any of the variants… I was hoping to get more info for you, but maybe that is a mystery readers could help solve.
The decorator knew my in-laws were into Scandanavian design because they already owned a lot of Danish modern furniture, including a 10-piece Dux teak living room set that I now have, plus Dux dining room and bedroom furniture, plus the original Saarinen tulip table/chairs like you have. Unfortunately that last item did not survive 5 kids, and we sold the last two chairs at her estate sale and I can only imagine they were bought for parts. But the teak stuff is wonderful and I love that they kept it. The furniture all came from a store in St. Louis called Craig Furniture that is closed now. Maybe that store is why there’s so much great stuff in St. Louis!
Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you, Stacia, for sharing this with us — and what a treasure trove you have!
Sure enough, I deciphered your Fasylux to be Easylux… and immediately found an example of another Easylux Norway cabinet set at Retro on 8th. Call it “bad branding” by the original owners to create a logo so confusing. Details from their listing:
Easy Lux wood and acrylic staples/spices rack for the kitchen. Made in Norway by Ulovlig Ved Kjop & Salg. Fantastic piece with 6 bins, two jars and 6 spice containers.
Ah! I found another of their products on flickr. Another reference to Ulovlig Ved Kjop & Salg here, in reference to scales, it seems.
In regard to ‘tandaro” or “tandara” or “tandura” or ? as a name of class of storage units, I could not easily find anything, and wasn’t sure how to research this further.
Sophia Athanasis says
I have one of these cabinets, and I am looking for a couple of the round plastic containers that fit into the cabinet. Does anyone have any expierence with finding replacements
David says
Definitely a Nordic thing – very Swedish Folkhem 50’s. That retro kitchen from Sweden är helt underbart!
I think Femtiotalsjakten might have some examples;
http://femtiotalsjakten.blogg.se/
TK says
There is a row of similar glass containers below the cabinets in the left side of the kitchen in this website of Swedish cabinet maker. http://www.kvanum.com/produkter/tradition/baner-parlgron/ If you scroll down further you can see more detailed pictures. This seems to be their 50’s retro line of cabinets.
pam kueber says
WOW! Thanks for this tip! Are you in Sweden?
TK says
I’m Finnish, but that Swedish company operates also here. I remembered that site and those “glass pitchers”, because I did “research” for my cousin who bought an small studio apartment from the house which was build in the 50’s. That apartment still had an original wooden 50’s kitchen cabinets which were build on the site. I persuaded him not to replace original wooden cabinets with something made out of MDF, but to renovate the original ones and used that site to show him how his kitchen could look, because there were similar hardwood handles in the cabinets. By the way my cousin’s kitchen didn’t have “pitchers” but “dish draining closet” like this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_draining_closet
fembot says
Oh, and Tomado is not Danish, it’s a Dutch company, best known for their wire and steel shelving units. They made a lot of metal kitchenware and utensils, but most of it is metal or coated wire, I’m not aware of them ever having made spice cabinets, but they might have done. I highly doubt, though, that it’s the word we’re looking for.
fembot says
They’re very common here in Holland, we call them spice cupboards. The earlier ones usually have white glazed earthenware drawers which are decorated and preprinted with words like coffee/tea/flour/sugar/oats/rice, the midcentury ones usually have drawers with ridged clear glass fronts, later ones are usually plastic. I currently have two sets of two of these drawers in plastic hanging under one kitchen cupboard, but I’m trying to source a slightly more interesting looking glass version for my kitchen renovation.
Ikea brought out a horizontal version in plain wood with five glass drawers a while back, but I think it was discontinued a year or two ago.
52PostNBeam says
Possibly … “tandaro” is Tomado, a Danish company that made nifty mid mod shelving & kitchen supplies. Ebay has many examples of vtg Tomado, although nothing like this cabinet.
Kathy Cutforth says
I lived in Germany until two years ago and you can still buy small shelves/cubbies with the glass rectangular bins in the general merchandise shops, and you can find old (1920s-60s maybe) freestanding kitchen cabinets or wall mounted cabinets with these built in on the curb or at the flea market.
I believe it is a northern European thing, not just Scandinavian. The bins come in a variety of sizes and are used for spices, flour and other dry goods. The glass is usually clear, but is sometimes a pale green. I’ve seen modern ones in pottery in Poland too.
yobo says
i’m not sure about “tandura” or “tanduro” but traditional scandinavian kitchen storage is pretty easy to find if you know where to look.
google images has a whole 2 rows of both vintage and modern examples.
http://tinyurl.com/caoebv7
i have a swedish aunt, i could ask her if there’s a special name for these cabinets.
Dorthe says
I am from Denmark and these sort of cabinets are quite common here. Normally they are not so large as this one displayed and normally they hang horizontal. Also the ones you find in Denmark is mostly made of glass rather than plastic. They where used in the kitchen to store spices, flour and such, but are now used to store knickknacks.
Often the glassdrawers are build in to the kitchen cabinet – like this http://mettesofie.dk/site/?page_id=4990
pam kueber says
Thank you, Dorthe — it is so cool to hear from a reader in Denmark!
Just another Pam says
I remember seeing them in Germany when I was a girl and have seen a couple at auction around here too. All the ones I’ve seen ran horizontally with the top being used as a shelf.
Hard not to covet the gorgeous thing, ain’t it?